CHAI

Catalyzing systemic health change.

HQ Location: United States 

Beyond local communities, the key challenge in the sphere of public health has long been to address systemic barriers to (sustainable) progress. In 2002, President Bill Clinton launched the ‘Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative’ under the auspices of his Clinton Foundation to not only bring care and treatment to people living with the disease, but also strengthen health infrastructures in resource-poor countries. Ten years later, the renamed Clinton Health Access Initiative has carved a considerable niche for itself as a willing partner to governments committed to improving in-country health systems, and as an active player in the movement to develop the market for medicines and the efficiency of health resource allocation at the global level.

Preferring to focus on organizational and managerial factors – rather than scientific or medical – the organization pursues catalytic, ‘game-changing’ opportunities for action. Its headline achievement to date was a successful negotiation with companies to secure lower prices for essential HIV/AIDS retroviral drugs, resulting in more than $1 billion in cost savings shared by over 4 million people.

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Photo © Clinton Mikumi